Russia military chief: NATO expansion ups odds of us launching nuclear war

Gen. Nikolai Makarov said ‘under certain conditions local and regional conflicts may develop into a full-scale war involving nuclear weapons.

Πηγή: nydailynews
By AP
Nov 17 2011

Also warned that a NATO pullout in Afghanistan could trigger conflicts in Central Asia.
MOSCOW — Russia is facing a heightened risk of being drawn into conflicts at its borders that have the potential of turning nuclear, the nation's top military officer said Thursday.

Gen. Nikolai Makarov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, cautioned over NATO's expansion eastward and warned that the risks of Russia being pulled into local conflicts have "risen sharply."

Makarov added, according to Russian news agencies, that "under certain conditions local and regional conflicts may develop into a full-scale war involving nuclear weapons."

A steady decline in Russia's conventional forces has prompted the Kremlin to rely increasingly on its nuclear deterrent.

The nation's military doctrine says it may use nuclear weapons to counter a nuclear attack on Russia or an ally, or a large-scale conventional attack that threatens Russia's existence.

Russia sees NATO's expansion to include former Soviet republics and ex-members of the Soviet bloc in eastern and central Europe as a key threat to Russia's security.

Makarov specifically referred to NATO's plans to offer membership to Georgia and Ukraine as potentially threatening Russia's security. Russia routed Georgian forces in a brief August 2008 war over a separatist province of South Ossetia. Moscow later recognized South Ossettia and another breakaway Georgian province of Abkhazia as independent states and increased its military presence there.

Makarov warned that the planned pullout of NATO forces from Afghanistan could trigger conflicts in neighboring ex-Soviet Central Asian nations that could "grow into a large-scale war."

In its military doctrine, Russia has also described U.S. missile defense plans as another major security challenge, saying it could threaten its nuclear forces and undermine their deterrence potential.

Moscow has agreed to consider NATO's proposal last fall to cooperate on the missile shield, but the talks have been deadlocked over how the system should operate. Russia has insisted that the system should be run jointly, which NATO has rejected.

Makarov also said Russia is struggling to get enough recruits for the 1-million military, as the number of draftees has shrunk dramatically because of demographical changes.

He said that the military is aiming to gradually increase the number of contract soldiers and eventually form an all-volunteer army. He didn't mention a specific time frame.

The statement marked a sharp change of course for the top military brass who previously insisted that Russia needs to maintain the highly unpopular draft because an all-volunteer military would be too costly.

Afghanistan: Pakistan accused of backing Taliban

Πηγή: BBC
By Sam Collyns

Oct 26 2011

Pakistan has been accused of playing a double game, acting as America's ally in public while secretly training and arming its enemy in Afghanistan according to US intelligence.

In a prison cell on the outskirts of Kabul, the Afghan Intelligence Service is holding a young man who alleges he was recruited earlier this year by Pakistan's powerful military intelligence agency, the ISI.

He says he was trained to be a suicide bomber in the Taliban's intensifying military campaign against the Western coalition forces - and preparations for his mission were overseen by an ISI officer in a camp in Pakistan.

After 15 days training, he was sent into Afghanistan.

In Afghanistan we saw an insurgency that was not only getting passive support from the Pakistani army and the Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI, but getting active support”Bruce RiedelAdviser to President Obama in 2009

"There were three of us. We were put into a black vehicle with black windows. The police did not stop the car because it was obviously ISI. No-one dares stop their cars. They told me... you will receive your explosive waistcoat, and then go and explode it."Taliban bases in Pakistan

The man recruited to be a suicide bomber changed his mind at the last minute and was later captured by the Afghan intelligence service.

But his story is consistent with a mass of intelligence which has convinced the Americans that, as they suspected, for the last decade Pakistan has been secretly arming and supporting the Taliban in its attempt to regain control of Afghanistan.

These suspicions started as early as 2002, when the Taliban began launching attacks across the border from their bases in Pakistan, but they became more widely held after 2006 when the Taliban's assault increased in its ferocity, not least against the ill-prepared British forces in Helmand province.

The final turning point in American eyes was the attack on Mumbai when 10 gunmen rampaged through the Indian city, killing 170 people - two weeks after Barack Obama's US presidential election victory in November 2008.

Despite Pakistan claiming it played no part in the attack, the CIA later received intelligence that it said showed the ISI were directly involved in training the Mumbai gunmen.

President Obama ordered a review of all intelligence on the region by a veteran CIA officer, Bruce Riedel.

Because Obama put more troops into Afghanistan... so Pakistan's support for us increased as well”NajibTaliban militia commander

"Our own intelligence was unequivocal," says Riedel. "In Afghanistan we saw an insurgency that was not only getting passive support from the Pakistani army and the Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI, but getting active support."Training and supplies

Pakistan has repeatedly denied the claims. But the BBC documentary series Secret Pakistan has spoken to a number of middle-ranking - and still active - Taliban commanders who provide detailed evidence of how the Pakistan ISI has rebuilt, trained and supported the Taleban throughout its war on the US in Afghanistan.

"For a fighter there are two important things - supplies and a place to hide," said one Taliban commander, who fights under the name Mullah Qaseem. "Pakistan plays a significant role. First they support us by providing a place to hide which is really important. Secondly, they provide us with weapons."

Another commander, Najib, says: "Because Obama put more troops into Afghanistan and increased operations here, so Pakistan's support for us increased as well."

He says his militia received a supply truck with "500 landmines with remote controls, 20 rocket-propelled grenade launchers with 2000 to 3000 grenades... AK-47s, machine-guns and rockets".Pakistani military

Evidence of Pakistan's support for the Taliban is also plain to see at the border where insurgents are allowed to cross at will, or even helped to evade US patrols.

And the recent drone attacks in Pakistan have become increasingly effective as intelligence has been withheld from the Pakistanis, claims Mr Riedel.

"At the beginning of the drone operations, we gave Pakistan an advance tip-off of where we were going, and every single time the target wasn't there anymore. You didn't have to be Sherlock Holmes to put the dots together."

Osama Bin Laden's capture and killing followed this same model - the Americans acting on their own, to the humiliation of Pakistan. Trust between the two supposed allies has never been lower.

Bin Laden was the reason America had attacked Afghanistan and overthrown the Taliban who had always refused to hand him over. His death has removed a major obstacle to peace.

Peace talks

But those who claim that Pakistan's hidden hand has shaped the conflict fear the same is now true of the negotiations for peace. Last year, in the Pakistani city of Karachi, Mullah Baradar, the Taliban's second-in-command, was captured by the ISI.

Secretly, Baradar had made contact with the Afghan government to discuss a deal that would end the war. He had done so without the ISI's permission and he was detained "to bring him back under control" according to one British diplomat.

More recently, Hawa Nooristani, a member of Afghanistan's High Peace Council, says she was called to a secret meeting.

Waiting for her was a commander from the most lethal faction of the Taliban, the Haqqani network, which first brought suicide bombing to Afghanistan. To her astonishment he said he wanted peace talks.

"He said it was vital Pakistan intelligence knew nothing of the meeting. He said not to disclose it because Pakistan does not want peace with Afghanistan and even now they are training new Taleban units.

"He was also scared that the Pakistanis will arrest him because he lives in Pakistan and he said it would be easy for them to arrest him."

Talks with the Taliban collapsed after the killing of former President Rabbani

The Afghan government began peace talks with the Taliban but these were abandoned after its chief negotiator, former President Rabbani, was killed by a suicide bomber purporting to be a Taliban envoy.

Any future peace will have to be concluded with Pakistan President Karzai has since declared

To American policy advisers like Bruce Riedel, the message is clear:

"The ISI may not be able to deliver the Taliban to the negotiating table, but they can certainly spoil any negotiations process. So far, there's very little sign, that I've seen, that Pakistan is interested in a political deal."

While denying links to the Taliban, Pakistan insists that it is doing no more than what any country would do in similar circumstances.

"We cannot disregard our long term interest because this is our own area," said General Athar Abbas, chief spokesman for Pakistan's military.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during a recent visit to Pakistan: "The Pakistanis have a role to play, they can either be helpful, indifferent or harmful."

But there are those like Mr Riedel who fear that the forces unleashed in 10 years of war may yet come to haunt the whole world:

"There is probably no worse nightmare, for America, for Europe, for the world, in the 21st Century than if Pakistan gets out of control under the influence of extremist Islamic forces, armed with nuclear weapons...The stakes here are huge."

What happens in Pakistan may yet be the most enduring legacy of 9/11 and the hunt for Bin Laden.

The Islamization of British Police

Πηγή: Euronews
By Henrik R. Clausen

Sep. 24 2011

For those not aware of the political nature of Islam, it might come across as just a cultural amusement to see Islam still deeper entrenched in the British police force. Other countries, like Denmark and France, insist that religion has no role to play in policing. Not so in Britain.

On September 24th 2011, the Mayor of London sponsored an Eid festival at Trafalgar Square. One of the exhibitions was of how Islam is being integrated into the British police force, a banner presenting key elements of this. Since the police (by definition) is a security force for all British citizens, formally having the objective of upholding British law equally for all citizens, it is meaningful to put the mission statement of the Association of Muslim Police (AMP) under some scrutiny:

First the classical band used on police uniforms, now laced with classical Islamic green. A symbolic way of saying that the intention of AMP is to change the police force. This is corroborated by the first line of the banner, which reads:

“Muslims making a difference to policing”

That's clear enough, and anyone able to parse a straight English sentence will get the meaning of this. The intention is to change policing as such, not merely to protect the rights of police officers who happen to be Muslims.

The mission statement on the banner reads on:

The Association of Muslim Police (AMP) aims to:

Assist Muslims in the police force to observe their faith and to promote the understanding of Islam within the police force and the wider community.

That's clear enough: The want police officers who happen to be Muslims to be more observant of their faith, to promote Islam within the force – as well as outside. This is also known as 'enforcing' and 'proselytizing'. This is not about furthering the self-determination of the individual officers, it is about making them more observant of Islam and follow Islamic practices while on duty.

Further:

Provide a forum for Muslims in the police and support their religious and welfare needs, with a view to improving their immediate working environment and retaining them in service.

Put more bluntly, this is a pressure group working to introduce Islamic rules into the police force, promoting the strange concept of “religious needs”, changing the working environment to be in line with Islamic demands, with an implicit threat that Muslims should not work as police officers unless these demands are met by the force.

Assist in the recruitment and retention of Muslim staff [...]

Now, one might wonder what this discrimination on religious grounds is all about, since usually discrimination is considered a major Evil. But it is surprisingly simple to come across a plausible explanation:

Since the police is an important force in society, having a strong Muslim presence there is an enabler of Islamic codes of conduct, also known as Islamic law, within the force and in the community. How to better implement and protect Islamic law in society than through the very organization that is created to enforce the law? Islamist infiltration of the British police force would be a serious matter indeed. Hopefully the force and the politicians have enforced suitable measures to make sure that this can under no circumstances be the case.

The last line of text reads:

[...] and to assist in the creation of a fair and just working environment for all cultural minorities.

While sounding friendly, this line implies that the working environment for “cultural minorities” is not fair or just at present, a subtle accusation of what would be called 'racism' – so subtly worded that few would identify it and yet fewer object to it.

The 'assisting' would constitute of advice on how to change the police force in order not to offend “cultural minorities”, also known as “sensitivity training”. This, unfortunately, tends to render the police force ineffective in cases where normal police procedure – like the use of sniffer dogs – violates religious law stating that dogs are 'unclean', and the like. Whenever there is a clash between secular and religious law, it is easy to make a qualified guess as to which side AMP will be on.

Before writing this off as 'speculative', it is instructive to see this conflict of interest play out in practice. The National Association of Muslim Police in 2010 rejected the claim that Islam can be blamed for terror attacks. This statement not only constitutes a mockery of available documentation, the stated motivation of the terrorists, and the plight of the victims of Islamic terrorism. It also casts doubt over the ability or willingness of the Muslim police to honestly investigate cases of Islamic terrorism.


Integration Islamic symbols into the British police uniform

AMP, as stated above, consists of Muslims bent on making a difference to policing. This is an ambitious goal which requires resources, and fortunately for AMP, the Home Office is gladly underwriting the project by granting the Muslim police group 15 times more funding than the equivalent Christian group. More at Undhimmi.com

Details like having a page on the Metropolitan Police web site as well as an official Metropolitan Police email address endows the Association of Muslim Police with a legitimacy quite surprising to citizens of more secular countries.

There is one more item on the banner worth commenting upon, namely the photo of the Dome of the Rock mosque in Jerusalem. This has become a banner image for Islamists desiring to regain control of Jerusalem. A rather strange choice for an organization officially only interested in changing the policing in Britain. Then, would anyone seriously expect a Muslim organization to fly the Union Jack on their banner? That would, after all, signal loyalty to secular law and Great Britain, potentially problematic for pious Muslims.

Other hypothetical problems, such as the conflicts of interest between Shariah and secular British law, or the risk that the Muslim police might later turn into an actual Islamic police force, are left as exercises for the reader to ponder. He might also ask his politicians a critical question or two on the subject, including the funding and other issues mentioned above.

Greek police fire teargas at protesters in Athens

Πηγή: Reuters
By Renee Maltezou

Sep. 25 2011

Greek riot police fired teargas at anti-austerity protesters pelting them with bottles outside parliament on Sunday in the first such unrest after a summer lull.

The rally of about 2,000 protesters holding banners reading "We won't pay for your crisis" and chanting "Get out of here" took place in Athens, as the country's finance minister was in Washington, scheduled to meet European Union and International Monetary Fund officials to discuss the debt crisis.

"Dozens started throwing bottles at police, who responded with teargas to disperse them," a police official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, police said.

More than 100 people were injured in clashes with police outside parliament on June 29 and 30, as lawmakers voted on the country's so-called mid-term fiscal plan.

Greece announced a new wave of austerity measures on Wednesday to secure a new injection of aid and save the country from bankruptcy, after a "troika" including EU and IMF inspectors made clear they were losing patience with the government's failure to meet the targets.

State Department Mishandles $172.4 Million Intended for Afghan Police Training

Πηγή: POGO

Jul 11, 2011

By Andre Francisco 

10:15 AM

A new joint audit by the Inspectors General (IGs) of the Department of State (DOS) and the Department of Defense (DoD) found that the DOS didn't properly obligate or return to DoD approximately $172.4 million from funds for the training of the Afghan National Police (ANP). Additionally, the report found that some of those funds went to paying contractors for hours they didn’t work.

The DoD gave the DOS $1.26 billion for training of the ANP, but some of this money was improperly spent in other areas, even though it was specifically designated for training the ANP, according to the joint audit.

The report says that the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) used $22.47 million for “a United Nations LOTFA contribution, the Federal Prosecutors Program, counternarcotics personnel salaries, travel costs, and a DynCorp equitable adjustment.” DynCorp is one of the largest military contractors, and it provides security and training in Afghanistan. Some of that money went towards ANP salaries and “reform initiatives,” but not training as it was intended.

More than $300,000 went to travel costs from Texas to Washington, DC for DynCorp personnel to attend weekly meetings, even though DynCorp was supposed to have employees in DC who could have attended the meetings. On top of that, the report found that the transportation, hotel and flight costs were all not in compliance with contract regulations.

One example is of an employee purchasing a round-trip ticket for $355, but then changing his ticket so many times that it ended up costing $1,931. Some travel costs were for five-day trips, even though meetings only happened on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

The IGs also found that in a 2-week period, 84 percent of contractor personnel worked less than the 8- to 12-hour workday, but were paid for a full day. This resulted in an overpayment of $449,406 for those two weeks. The report points out that if this pattern happened every week, that would mean over the course of a year the government would be overpaying the contractor by $11.68 million.

The report found that this money was misspent because “DOS lacked adequate procedures for obligating, monitoring, and deobligating DoD funds for the ANP training program.”

The report also warns that if almost $75 million of these incorrect obligations are not fixed, it could result in a violation of the Anti-Deficiency Act, which prohibits the government from entering into any contracts that aren’t completely funded.